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INTERIM STUDY REPORT
Common Education Committee
Rep. Ann Coody, Chairman
Oklahoma House of Representatives
Interim Study 11-058, Rep. Dennis Johnson
October 4, 2011
Age of children Entering Kindergarten
Patti Cox, superintendent
Aline-Cleo School District
580-463-2255
• The most important thing is to educate parents on how to be parents while children are
between birth and age 3. Children in 4-year-old programs should be engaged in active
learning through play and becoming engaged in the school setting.
• Moving the kindergarten cutoff date will give children one more year to develop. If
children are not mature, they cannot be classroom participants.
• Expectations for children’s learning are different now. The curriculum is what teachers
used to teach to first grade students.
• In Finland, which is recognized for educational excellence, kindergarten students are 6
and the philosophy is not the number of years in school but the quality.
• Students would be better off in a prekindergarten program when they’re not ready for
kindergarten. Since many of the children will not be at home, it would be better for them
to be in a structured prekindergarten program than a day care.
• It is her opinion that students would do better if they didn’t start school until age 8.
Linda Cole, transitional first grade teacher
Sayre School District
580-928-2013
• A cutoff date of May 1 would be better because students with summer birthdays tend to
not be ready for kindergarten.
• She helped start a transitional first grade program in Sayre because of the children who
weren’t ready for first grade. Most of those children had birth dates from April to
November 1.
• In the majority of cases when teachers recommended that a student attend transitional
first grade, but the parents opted not to put the student through the program, the student
was retained a year later in first grade.
• A change in the kindergarten age cutoff date could help eliminate the need for the
transitional first grade program.
Kristi Ferguson, Title I teacher
Newcastle School District
405-387-5188
• About one in five students she teaches through the Title I program have summer
birthdays and are behind in kindergarten and first grade.
• Some teachers are concerned about the effect these students will have on them as
educators because the new teacher evaluation system factors in student performance.
• Recent legislation that ends the practice of social promotion in third grade, also will
affect these children because they are the ones who will likely still be struggling by third
grade.

INTERIM STUDY REPORT
Common Education Committee
Rep. Ann Coody, Chairman
Oklahoma House of Representatives
Interim Study 11-058, Rep. Dennis Johnson
October 4, 2011
Age of children Entering Kindergarten
Patti Cox, superintendent
Aline-Cleo School District
580-463-2255
• The most important thing is to educate parents on how to be parents while children are
between birth and age 3. Children in 4-year-old programs should be engaged in active
learning through play and becoming engaged in the school setting.
• Moving the kindergarten cutoff date will give children one more year to develop. If
children are not mature, they cannot be classroom participants.
• Expectations for children’s learning are different now. The curriculum is what teachers
used to teach to first grade students.
• In Finland, which is recognized for educational excellence, kindergarten students are 6
and the philosophy is not the number of years in school but the quality.
• Students would be better off in a prekindergarten program when they’re not ready for
kindergarten. Since many of the children will not be at home, it would be better for them
to be in a structured prekindergarten program than a day care.
• It is her opinion that students would do better if they didn’t start school until age 8.
Linda Cole, transitional first grade teacher
Sayre School District
580-928-2013
• A cutoff date of May 1 would be better because students with summer birthdays tend to
not be ready for kindergarten.
• She helped start a transitional first grade program in Sayre because of the children who
weren’t ready for first grade. Most of those children had birth dates from April to
November 1.
• In the majority of cases when teachers recommended that a student attend transitional
first grade, but the parents opted not to put the student through the program, the student
was retained a year later in first grade.
• A change in the kindergarten age cutoff date could help eliminate the need for the
transitional first grade program.
Kristi Ferguson, Title I teacher
Newcastle School District
405-387-5188
• About one in five students she teaches through the Title I program have summer
birthdays and are behind in kindergarten and first grade.
• Some teachers are concerned about the effect these students will have on them as
educators because the new teacher evaluation system factors in student performance.
• Recent legislation that ends the practice of social promotion in third grade, also will
affect these children because they are the ones who will likely still be struggling by third
grade.